Stats & Links: Why Martinez was more expensive than Tolisso

Only twice in the past, FC Bayern has paid more than 40 million euros to acquire a new player. The first time was in 2013 when a certain 23-year-old, named Javi Martinez, arrived from Bilbao to strengthen the defence. However Corentin Tolisso is almost as unknown to the majority of the fans as the Spaniard then, which makes the number of 41.5 million appear quite massive.

Last summer we, here at miasanrot, talked about the most expensive transfers in the history of the club. In the process we compared them to the revenue of the previous season, to determine the relative price of the player. The “most expensive” one appeared to be Roy Makaay, whose transfer fee was at 12.1% of the revenue at the time. Javi Martinez only came second in that ranking with 10.7%. Because of the steady increase in revenue over the past few years, the relative price of Corentin Tolisso is only at 6.6%.

Brazilians are expensive

This summer we will take a look at the proportion between the biggest FC Bayern transfer and the biggest transfer overall at that time. How much does FC Bayern spend on players in comparison to the international elite? Does FC Bayern become one of the spender-clubs with the Tolisso transfer this summer? Let us take a closer look at the statistics.

The first two record transfers of FC Bayern, displayed right here, are bargains considering today’s fees. In 1998 and 2000 the club acquired Giovanne Elber and Paulo Sergio for 6.5 and 6.6 million euros. To compare: Just a few days ago, the transfer of Serge Gnabry was finalized, an almost raw talent, for 8 million euros.

Back then another Brazilian changed clubs from Barcelona to Inter Milan. The 21-year-old was called Ronaldo and Inter paid around 28 million euros for him. A record that shortly after was exceeded by another Brazilian, transferred to Betis Sevilla (Denilson, 31.5 million euros). It seems like it was the time of expensive Brazilians.

Up until the summer of 2001 the overall transfer fee record was broken three more times. First it was the transfer of Christian Vieri (45 million), than Luis Figo (60 million) and finally Zinedine Zidane, who joined Real Madrid for the incredible amount of 75 million euros. In the same transfer window FC Bayern secured the services of Claudio Pizarro for only 8.2 million, which was a little over a tenth what Madrid paid for Zidane.

Even in the German Bundesliga, FC Bayern did not hold the record at the time. Borussia Dortmund made a move for Marcio Amoroso from Parma paying 25 million euros, which remained a Bundesliga record for many years to come. It was the time, when FC Bayern refused to touch their so called “fixed deposit account” and only improved the squad with players of other Bundesliga teams by not paying more than an average of 8 million euros.

Double figures for the first time

It was the summer of 2003, when FC Bayern started to spend more than 10 million euros on a single player. Roy Makaay arrived from Deportivo La Coruna, who previously had single-handedly outscored the Bavarian’s in the Champions League. They paid 19.5 million for the “Phantom”. It was the first time FC Bayern paid more than 25% of the record transfer fee as well.

Before the a new record move happened, with the transfer of Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester to Madrid in 2009 (94 million euros), FC Bayern increased their record spendings two more times when they bought Franck Ribéry (25 million) and Mario Gomez (30 million).

Meanwhile some rethinking had taken place at Säbener Straße, with the outcome that international success required spending money like international competitors. The transfer of Ribéry not only marked a new Bundesliga record, but was also about as high as one third of the benchmark worldwide.

Under the reign of Uli Hoeneß as manager, FC Bayern started spending some of their hard earned capital, but without paying vast amounts like the European top teams at the time. Instead they were trying to build a squad with the best Bundesliga players in combination with some international players, who had the potential to reach a world class performance level at FC Bayern.

Another transfer of this category was the move of Manuel Neuer, who arrived in Munich in 2011, for a fee of 30 million euros.

40 million for the treble

In the summer of 2012/2013, Javi Martinez joined FC Bayern after the record champions finishing second in all of the major competitions in the previous season. After the unfortunate experience, those responsible had no issues anymore to spend 40 million on one player.

The fee of the Martinez transfer was 42.6% of the all time record, which represents the highest percentage so far regarding FC Bayern activities. Because of the transfers of Gareth Bale (101 million) and Paul Pogba (105 million) the record of the Ronaldo move was broken twice, so the Tolisso fee does not touch this percentage with 39.5%.

A trend however cannot be denied. Since the Martinez transfer, FC Bayern has spend more than 35 million euros on one single player on five occastions. For the likes of Vidal, Götze, Hummels, Sanches and Tolisso, they paid at least 35% of the all time record fee.

Does the Vieri record of 1999 break this summer?

Until this day they never bought a player for more than 50% of the international benchmark. Likewise they never spend more than what Inter paid Milan for Vieri in 1999 (45 million euros).

President Uli Hoeneß talked about a bombshell, which is needed to improve the current squad. For a player like this, those marks are likely to be broken – both the 50% barrier, as well as the 45 million euro mark.

Let’s have a look at the links for this week

Talent Radar: Confederations Cup 2017 | 10 to Watch | Oliver McManus | Outside of the boot

Did Guardiola Create A Legacy at Bayern? | The Whitehouse Address

Women’s Champions League Squad of the Season | UEFA

Identifying Ligue 1’s Next Big Breakout Talents #1: Corentin Tolisso | Mohamed Mohamed | StatsBomb

Women’s football analysis: a comparison of five major leagues | CIES

Paolo Guerrero: the predator and talisman as good as anyone from his generation | Peter Galindo | These Football Times

Team of Football History 1950-2017 | football arguments

Team of the Season 2016-2017 | football arguments

Recent Miasanrot articles

Player of the Season: Thiago Alcántara | Maurice | Michael

Reinventing Bayern’s Women’s Team pt. 1 – They Have Done It Before | Jolle | Luca

Scouting Report: Corentin Tolisso | Steffen | Bettina

FC Bayern sign Serge Gnabry | Jan | Sam

Carlo’s new assistant | Maurice | Luca

Recent stats, maps, and graphics